the be all end all video game thread

I play quite a bit of eve, hit me up in game if you need some tips. Ingame name is Cattraknoff. I don't know what corp you are in now, but head down to auber and join E-UNI. They aare a 1000man corp dedicated to teaching people the game. You can learn ALOT from those guys.

 

Man, I know I will play this game, but what's the deal? The last incarnation of the Prince, style and voice actor, was much better than whatever they have done here. He sounds far too serious and poncy in the trailer.

 

Anyone else try the Halo:Reach beta yet?

My impressions:

1. The new battle rifle is hard as fuck to use in close-quarters combat. Unlike previous Halos, it's actually beneficial to use your AR or pistol when close in.
2. The new armor abilities are a neat addition, though not really in keeping with traditional Halo style. Using a jetpack and gravity hammer is a fun combo.
3. Some of the new gametypes are fun. The spartans vs. elites invasion game adds a nice variety beyond the simple slayer/flag stealing games.
4. Seems like dual wielding is gone. Good riddance.
5. Overall, it rips a lot off of the COD franchise. Different starting weapons and abilities by class and earning xp to unlock stuff comes straight from Halo's main competitor. Come on Bungie, your own games are great, stick to what you do best.

 

In this case I don't have a problem with the unlocks. They are just different types of armor that only change appearance, unlike the unlocks in COD which give you better weapons and abilities. Even with the new loadout choices everyone has the same opportunity and Bungie chooses the options in the loadout. I also like saving up credits to make my character look different.

I have been playing the beta since the day it came out and am enjoying it a lot. Grenades are more powerful than in Halo 3 but it seems the energy sword is less powerful. The only real complaint I have is with the new Shield/Health system. You basically have your shield bar over your health bar. If your shield is down to 5% and someone melee's you, the damage doesn't carry over to your life bar. What happens is that your shield drops the last 5% and then they have to melee you again to get your health bar down. In Halo 3 damage transfered to your health bar as your shield went down. I will probably get used to it but having to double melee someone after unloading half a clip into them is annoying sometimes. I am going to be really sad when the beta ends because we have to wait until September for the game to come out.

 

Weird timing on this, my friend just convinced me to try it out and I'm hooked. Currently I'm on my 8th day of the trial, training up to fly a Moa. I'll def head over to Auber once I finish the epic arc, Dagan is a bitch to kill.

I really enjoy it too. The changes they made really improve the game for me. I love picking a loadout and then going to town. Running for the sniper on Swordbase, 1 Flag defense? Go for Scout and sprint to it. Going for the plasma grenade launcher? Airborne and use your jump jets.

 

This is really only true if you are looking to be a high-end tournament player (and even then, there's a few that use pad.) Now that I've adjusted to the D-Pad, I'm pulling moves off just fine, but now my issue is one of strategy. I still jump too much, and I need to learn to mix it up more, but I'm definitely way better. I switched from Chun-Li to Juri as well, bitch is wicked fun to play with.

 

The UFC 2010 demo is pretty fun, putting two COM fighters on expert and watching them beat the living shit out of each other is never going to get old once the game comes out.

 

Since you brought it up, the first statement is definitely false. People who are serious about improving and rarely play tournaments all use sticks too, and it helps them considerably. It is not solely for "high-end tournament player"; it is for anyone who takes the game semi-seriously and wants to get better.

Secondly, I don't know of a single good SF4 player that uses a pad. I knew a couple of good pad players for Super Turbo, but not SF4. Perhaps they exist, I'm just not aware of them. I mean, I can pull off a lot of moves for fighting moves on a freaking keyboard (360 motions require insane dexterity), but it's definitely a major hindrance.

Have you completed all of Juri's trials, and can you reliably hit her juggles and bread and butters?

 

Just hang around Brus, and ask the people that show up to roll with you. Dagan, can't really hit you outside 12k or inside 1k if you're moving fast. He's pretty easy with a second person. Just don't get scammed by some douche looking to fuck with n00bs.

 

Based on what I've read on two SSF4-only forums, anyone who is playing solely online is going to see very little difference between pad and stick. Maybe the people there are wrong, but I'm inclined to believe them until I see otherwise. Of the 100 or so games I've played, maybe 25 opponents were clearly using a stick, and of those 25 only 5-10 were so proficient with it that they had a clear advantage over me.

I've finished 19 (I think) of her trials and have a few BnB combos I can reliably pull off, on top of 3 or 4 ways I can combo into her Ultra II (haven't played with the FSE yet.) After ~50 games with her that isn't too shabby. I don't see the pad holding me back from becoming a solid online player in the future at all.

 

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.

Similar to Manihack, I played street fighter 4 casually and decided to pick up Super. The online competition is very stiff so I've been fooling around offline in arcade mode and the trials to try and improve. KIMaster's suggestion of using a stick is something I've been considering, but I don't want to spend the money and find out that I'm just a crappy player. Can anyone who uses a stick explain the major advantages that it provides?

Weaknesses in my game that I am aware of are:
-I rarely throw, focus, or use EX moves
-Too many jump ins
-difficulty pulling off motions like Guile's Ultra flash kick
-I can't complete all of the trials for any character

I haven't settled on a main character to use, but it will most likely be someone charge based. I tend to turtle, but find aggressive Bison's and Balrog's very interesting.

 

I can't comment on the stick obviously, but as far as your weaknesses:

-If you're never doing those things, you've got a long way to go. Focus attacks are a great way to start combos, and using the armor it gives you followed by a dash is great against the slower fireballers. Also if someone is going to sit there and throw fireballs all day you can Focus them and dash backwards to build up ultra meter without losing health. EX moves are generally one of your best ways to combo into an Ultra (ex. Chun EX Legs -> either Ultra, Juri EX Dive kick -> 2nd Impact -> Third Strike -> Ultra II.) Throws are a great mixup option, and being able to predict an incoming throw and block it is also key. Also, against the lower ranks of online, where everyone jumps around, take advantage of your air throw if your character has it (ex. Chun, Cammy.) That leads me into...

-Jumping in. I was guilty of this early on myself. I think everyone is. It's just something you have to overcome with time.

-If you're having trouble pulling off any moves, it's just a matter of practice. I literally spent like 90 minutes in practice mode the other day with Juri until I was hitting my combos into ultra at least 75% of the time (it was ~25% when I went in.)

-If you're having trouble with the trials I'd suggest checking out youtube for videos of people doing them. Some of them require special positioning or weird stuff that the input thing doesn't tell you (ex. some of Juri's require you to active her Ultra I before you can pull them off. I banged my head against a wall for like 20 minutes before I looked it up.)

-If you want to use a charge character I have to suggest giving Chun Li a shot. She plays a great turtle game with her strong normals (fast pokes with her light attacks, and her standing roundhouse is just devastating), different speed fireballs (the light punch one is really slow, and goes full screen, so you can dash in behind it to close ground quickly), and she has some relatively easy ways to combo into ultras and supers. On top of all that, she has the fastest walk speed, fastest forward dash, and third fastest backdash in the game. Her air throw will also net you some easy wins at the lower ranks once you get your opponent's jump timing down. I have to admit I'm a little biased, but she's a damn good character.

Edit: If you really want to learn more about the game, check out the forums at <a class="postlink" href="http://shoryuken.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://shoryuken.com/</a>, the guys there really know their stuff.

Edit2: I forgot another plus for Chun-Li. She has a great anti-air in EX Spinning Bird Kick, but if you're having trouble with Guile's Flash Kick it's the same motion, so you'll need some practice.

 

Did you read Shoryuken? That's probably the most reliable forum talking about the game.

If your only goal is to become a "solid online player", you should have mentioned that in the first post. And sure, you can achieve that with a pad. Being able to complete only 19 trials is a low level of execution, but you can still be a decent or even good player, regardless. However, if you want to play in tournaments, online or off, a stick helps a lot.

Firstly, the buttons on a fight stick are huge and arranged three on top (punches) and three on the bottom (kicks). The buttons are also constructed differently than those of a pad. This allows you to use your right index, middle, and ring fingers the same way you would type, something you can't do on a pad. Thus, you can use a piano input method, and pull off/more reliably hit reversals, hit strings, etc.

Secondly, the stick itself is gripped with your entire left hand, as opposed to the analog stick, which is only gripped with your left thumb. This allows far greater accuracy and speed in determining motions, which is essential for any non-charge character. It helps for charge characters too, but not as much. It's no coincidence that most really good pad players use charge characters, and usually ones with simpler combos (like Blanka in ST) for this reason.

If you want to turtle and play a charge character, Chun-Li and Guile are probably your best bets, not Bison or Balrog.

 

Shoryuken and Eventhubs, yes.

That's basically what I was implying in my second post, but I have to say you have inspired me to try stick. Well, that and I found a tournament edition stick on half.com for 90 plus shipping. Also I got 80 dollars more than I expected from my textbook buyback. I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

 

Thanks, you guys have been really helpful. The pad sounds better for me because I'll be spending more time using charge characters.

I liked Chun-Li in Third Strike, but now that she's missing the lightning leg super I've lost interest in her. The universal inputs for super combos were great in that game, I wish they didn't change it for SSF4.

I'm decent with Guile but excessive turtling is part of my problem. It usually leaves me on the opposite side of the screen where I'm unable to throw/focus or land an EX attack. Maybe when I find the right balance I'll make the switch to Bison or Balrog.

 

Can someone tell me who the better rushdown characters in SSF4 are? I have been told abel and rufus are good unfortunately I don't like rufus and I have played sc2 too much to really play abel.

 

I don't really consider either of those two classic rushdown characters, especially Abel, who often has to turtle. Anyways, Balrog is the best rushdown character, Dudley is excellent, Crimson Viper is good but has some bad match-ups, and Ryu, Ken, and Akuma can all be played in that manner effectively. A lot of the vanilla SF4 and new characters are rushdown types or can be played as such, but they're either not as good, or it's too early to tell how effective they will be.

Really, your question is way too broad for deciding who you want to main.

 

KI who do you main out of curiosity?